million internet users. >> it will be curious to know whether that gives facebook more access to china. great to see every morning here on "wake-up call." that's it. "american morning" begins right now. i'm christine romans. a lot going on this morning. the case may be going to the jury on the fourth of july. closing arguments in the casey anthony murder trial. the prosecution painting a picture of a serial liar and of a young woman they say sacrificed her child for the free life she wanted. i'm ali velshi, accused of the worst massacre in europe since the nazis, war crimes suspect ratko mladic in court, disruptive and combative. the judge throws him out of the courtroom. we'll explain on this "american morning." good morning, ali. welcome to "american morning." >> good morning. >> it is monday, the fourth of july. i'm hoping you're having a

wonderful day off. kiran is off today. >> she's enjoying the fourth of july. we're following breaking news. six people are missing after a small boat carrying mostly americaning sank off mexico's baja, california, peninsula. officials say 44 people were on the boat when it left the port of san fell lee pe. we're told the boat hit rough weather and sank almost immediately. 37 people have been rescued and reports one person has dead. joining us is a petty officer from the u.s. coast guard. we spoke last hour, you told us 37 people had been rescued and i know the sun is not up yet, so i don't know if you have any more information since last we talked but give us the situation. >> good morning, ali. yes, the coast guard is preparing at first light to conduct a search for the six missing people from the 100 foot fishing charter vessel that sank almost immediately after it capsized on sunday morning. the -- there was 44 people on board, 37 have been confirmed

alive, six people are missing and we did receive a report of one fatality. >> pamela, christine here, how big is the area the researchers are searching and what are they dealing with in terms of conditions and weather there? >> the coast guard hasn't left yet. we're waiting for the sun to come up before we conduct a search. when we do, we will conduct a thorough and exhaustive search of the area, we cover hundreds of square miles of water and we'll be doing that as soon as the sun comes up. >> do we know any -- any sense of this vessel, you told us 100 foot fishing vessel, is its weather that caused it to capsize? >> yes, ali. we received a report that they had hit some rough weather on sunday morning and the boat had capsized and sank almost immediately. the vessel was close enough to shore where some people were actually able it to swim to shore and they had to notify authorities when they got on land. >> petty office ser pamela

bailen, we'll check in with you later. former serb commander ratko mladic kicked out of court this morning. the judge removing mladic from the chambers after multiple disruptions. mladic refused to enter a plea and complained the judge wasn't, quote, allowing him to breathe. the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. he is suspected, of course, of war crimes including genocide. mladic is accused of ordering the shelling in sarajevo and massacre of 8,000 men and boys at celeb knee cha in the 1990s. the case could go to the jury after heated and emotional powerful closing arguments in the casey anthony murder trial. the prosecution describe the clash between the life they say casey wanted and the life she had. they asked the jury to base their verdict on evidence not emotion. david mattingly joins us from outside the courthouse in orlando, florida. we believe there will be some business today. is it likely the jury gets the

case today? >> it is very likely they could start deliberating this afternoon. yesterday was a landmark day because after 33 days of testimony, the prosecution never really told us why casey anthony might want to kill her little daughter. well, yesterday, they brought it all together for the jury during emotional closing arguments. the prosecution says that casey anthony was a young woman who yearned for a more carefree and fun life and her daughter was standing in the way. there was some very powerful moments as the prosecutor pushed that point home and here's one of them. >> the evidence in this case proves beyond any reasonable doubt that casey anthony decided on june 16th that something had to be sacrificed. that the conflict between the life that she wanted and the life that was thrust upon her

was simply irreconcilable and something had to give. she chose to sacrifice her child. to live the life that she wanted. >> now the defense yesterday spent hours deconstructing the prosecution's entire case, picking apart witness after witness after expert it testimony, after expert testimony, pushing the point home to the jury that the defense really doesn't have to prove anything here. they just have to show the jury that there is plenty of room here for reasonable doubt and a lot of this circumstantial case that prosecution has. ali? >> david, it's christine here. wondering, it seems as though the pace of this case has been quite rapid and now you've got the jury working like we are, on the fourth of july, on a holiday. y such a brisk pace? the judge has said all along that this was going to keep moving. >> if you've been sitting in that courtroom it might have been feeling like it's been

moving pretty slowly. they've been at this for six weeks now. the judge trying to keep this train on the tracks. they had a little bit of a dust up yesterday when the defense attorney took exception to the prosecutor smiling during his closing arguments. that threw us off for a couple hours. at this point, the judge very determined to keep things moving, to keep it in the hands of the jury and get it to them so they can start deliberating. they've known for a long time that this trial was going to last six or eight weeks. they've been at it for six. let's see how long the jury is going to take now to reach a verdict. >> david, we will be checking in with you throughout the day. david mattingly, outside the courthouse in orlando. >> six days a week including holidays, these jurors are dedicated to this thing. it's been a long ordeal. that brings us to our question of the day. do you think the prosecution has proved its case against casey anthony? send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. we will read your thoughts throughout the trial. >> we know you may not be trial

watchers all the time but people have been watching this time. prosecutors in the case against dominique strauss-kahn are expected to press on despite a stunning turn of events. on friday prosecutors announced their main witness, the alleged victim, has a credibility problem. strauss-kahn has been released from house arrest. here's more from susan candiotti. >> reporter: will dominique strauss-kahn learn his fate this week? he's been smiling every time he's left his rented new york town home this weekend while waiting to hear whether prosecutors will drop felony charges against him. a source with knowledge of the case says the d.a.'s team remains undecided despite strong forensic evidence of a sexual encounter inside that hotel room, but was it assault? massive credibility issues, including admitted lies by the maid about her past, could derail the case. among them, bank accounts discovered in her name in several states.

and a jailhouse call from a maid's friend with her saying to the friend, something to the effect of, that she could possibly make money from all of this. now, i am told there is no evidence of a setup in this case. on sunday, the d.a. released a new statement to cnn saying a search for truth has guided his office. in his words, what is important is not a win or a loss, but rather to ensure the criminal justice system balances the rights of all those who come before it. christine and ali? new this morning a police officer and father of two shot to death at a hotel in memphis last night. police say officer timothy warren was responding to a report of shots fired at the hotel. responders had found the body of one victim when shots fired again. the shooting suspect is now in custody. exxon mobil is mopping up in montana after a burst pipeline spewed a thousand barrels of oil into the yellowstone river.

recent flooding has made cleanup difficult but officials say swift currents and high water could help break up the oil. officials say some of the oil has washed ashore but see no sign of harm to wildlife. flames lighting up the sky in egypt after an attack on a pipeline that supplies gas to israel. the egyptian army says the explosion appears to be an act of sabotage. right now the flow of gas to israel and jordan has been cut off. this is the third time egyptian gas pipelines have been attacked since the uprising that toppled hosni mubarak's government. new video of hugo chavez? cuba. venezuela's vice president says chavez could stay in cuba a total of 180 days. chavez admitted last week to having a cancerous tumor removed. with these pictures out of cuba with him in his athletic wear he looks the picture of health. >> track suit with castro

recently. the royal newlyweds continuing their tour of canada. prince william and his wife catherine took part in a ceremony at quebec city hall. a small bump in their cross canada tour. a group of protesters gathered chanting and carrying signs to oppose the newlyweds tour and the british monarchy. their nine-day tour ends this friday. the prince actually spoke french in quebec and he seemed to, despite the small number of protesters, sort of charm. >> a hearty group of an it ti monarchists there, some in the u.s., but in canada they feel they're the yolk of monarchy around the country. novak djokovic, the world's top tennis player when the rankings are announced yesterday. first time since february 2004 that a man other than roger federer or nadal has been number one. >> really? wow. that's quite a run.

you may not know him yet but 7.4 million baseball fans do. toronto blue jays jose batista received the most votes in an all-star game history, beating ken griffey jr.'s record 6 million in 1994. batista had 54 home runs last year and leads the majors this season. the new york yankees led the way with six all-star selections. i thought i was going to have no excuse to talk about canada again, but we have a blue jay in the news. >> oh canada. coming up on "american morning," street justice. the mayor of a city in the philippines unloads one on one of her employees. a sheriff in the police department. look at that. we'll tell you why she started throwing fists. a first for thailand, years after a violent coup, why the country's latest election is one for the history books. and a look from saturday's fireworks show in madison, wisconsin. the largest display in the midwest. this is incredible. >> who says budget cuts? look at that. >> seriously. "american morning" is coming

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former bosnian serb general ratko mladic tossed out of court only hours ago. >> this after multiple disruptions. mladic had refused to enter a plea so the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. he's accused of several war crimes including genocide and extermination. dan rivers joins us live from london where he's watching over the trial. what's the latest, dan? >> well, it's just an incredibly dramatic start to these proceedings. touchy, argumentive and confrontational right from the get-go with ratko mladic, refusing to allow the judge alfon, so o orie.

he came in with a cap to start with and the confrontation started. let's take a listen to the back and forth between them. >> mr. mladic, mr. mladic, mr. mladic, the court orders that you be removed from the courtroom. could security please escort mr. mladic out of the courtroom? [ speaking foreign language ] >> could mr. mladic -- [ speaking foreign language ] >>. >> translator: who are you? you're not allowing me to breathe. >> reporter: the female translator there giving his words, he's argued that he's in poor health. what they did in the end after he was forced to leave the court because he just wasn't cooperating, they entered not guilty pleas for all of the 11

charges that include genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. >> all right. dan rivers, thanks, dan. fox is falling victim to hackers. overnight its politics twitter account repeatedly announced that president obama had been shot dead while campaigning in iowa. these are the last two tweets. quote, breaking news, president obama assassinated, two gunshot wounds have proved too much. it's a sad fourth for america. and we wish joe biden best of luck as president of the united states in such time of madness. there's light at the end of the tunnel. president obama is very much alive and well. a group called the script kitty has claimed responsibility for the hacking. so far no response from fox except to say when we called them they don't know anything about this. not in good taste at all for somebody to have done that. switching gears here, history made in thailand. the country set to welcome its first female prime minister who won in a slands looids with more

than 90% of the votes counted. yingluck shinawata, her party has won more than half of the seats of thailand's 500 member parliament. it was shinawata's brother thrown out of office during a coup in 2006. >> which is part of the issue here because he's seen as part of the problem in the old days. she -- and he referred to her as my clone yet she won a democratic election. thailand has been going through problems. hopefully this helps them to start to put it behind them. down to street level the mayor of a city in the philippines started throwing fists at the city's sheriff. that's her. all caught on camera. the female mayor was angry because the sheriff wouldn't delay the demolition of a slum area. asking for a couple hour delay. the mayor is taking a five day leave of absence while the government investigates the beatedown. >> reynolds wolf is in the extreme weather center. happy fourth. >> back at you. lot of people celebrating the fourth going to the airport and

trying to travel. i don't think you will have too many problems until this afternoon. in orlando, miami, atlanta, d.c. metros, even in nashville and memphis, afternoon thunderstorms could be the problem. in san francisco, what do you have? fog. and you may also have delays just under an hour. that's going to be a big possibility. also there's going to be the possibility of thunderstorms across much of the southeast, mainly the afternoon activity. we need the sea breeze, daytime heating. severe storms possible for the upper midwest, plenty of sunshine, surprisingly, for the pacific northwest. some scattered showers for possibly parts of southern california and to the ohio valley, look for the chance of rain, same deal in spots like st. louis, back to kansas city. in terms of your heat there's a lot of it. a high of 95 in albuquerque, isn't too much of a surprise for el paso, 101 dallas, 88 kansas city, 92 in washington, d.c., 94 in atlanta and 94 in salt lake city. some of your highs yesterday, austin, texas, 102, mercy me, hattiesburg, 100, joplin missouri, triple digits same

deal in port author and beaumont. enjoy your fourth of july. kick it back to you. >> quick question, reynolds. we know when the sun comes up on the west coast there, the u.s. navy's helping the mexican coast guard with this rescue. what kind of weather are they looking for? >> it's going to be another warm day for them when they get things started in the morning not bad, but the issue strong southeasterly fetch. chop yes conditions in the water. i'm sure the navy could handle it. >> the update is 37 rescued, six are being sought and one has been confirmed dead. reynolds, thanks very much. we'll check in with you. coming up on "american morning," what is being an american mean to you? >> what does it mean to you? >> it means freedom, a great country, with complicated politics. >> you're right. >> one man begins a journey across the country on foot to get the answer. didn't what's his name do that? >> what's his name? >> forest gump. he ran across the country.

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24 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning, u.s. stock markets are closed for the holiday today. stocks posted the best weekly gain in two years last week, boosted by manufacturing data and easing concerns in greece. big on wall street this week, the jobs report for june releasing on friday and international markets are open today. the senate heading back to work tomorrow on debt ceiling talks after calls from president obama to get cracking on the budget deficit.

lawmakers need to reach an agreement by august 2nd on raising the debt limit or the treasury will not be able to pay all of its bills. eu leaders approved emergency funding for greece over the weekend. greece will receive $17 billion in emergency fund big july the 15th. protests turned violent last week after parliament added new austerity measures including new pay cuts for public workers to secure the funds from the eu. a study says people are adding more to their retirement nest eggs, the savings rose about $18 trillion in the last quarter according to the company institute. that's up 10% from the same time last year and just below the record high in 2007. president obama's housing chief says buy now. housing and urban development secretary shaun donovan says housing prices have hit rock bottom and believes we'll get back to time when homes are a good investment. the hacker group unanimous stealing passwords of apple employees. anonymous tweeted and posted the

hack info on its website. no customers information was stolen. cnn's calls to apple have not been returned. "american morning" right back after the break. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein! really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty percent of your daily value of protein. low fat and five grams of sugars. see? he's a good egg. [ major nutrition ] new ensure high protein. ensure! nutrition in charge!

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good morning. 29 minutes after the hour. our top stories this morning, the search resuming after a tour boat with 27 americans aboard sank off the baja peninsula in the sea of cortez. there were 44 people on the boat when it cap sized. six are still missing and the reports, at least one person has died this morning. the u.s. coast guard is sending a boat to help with the search once the sunrises. deliberations expected to begin today after powerful closing arguments in the casey anthony murder trial. the prosecution alleging casey sacrificed her child for a life of freedom. the defense saying the

prosecution's case is based on fantasy forensics. the state still gets a chance to rebutt the defense's argument. former commander ratko mladic kicked out of court this morning after multiple disruptions. mladic refused to enter a plea and claimed the judge wasn't, quote, allowing him to breathe. he's accused of the worst massacre in europe since the nazis. being american, what does it mean to you? that's what our next guest wants to find out. constantineo duras begins an 8 month journey today. >> a walk across the country from new york to los angeles, meeting people along the way to discover and define being american. he joins us this morning from his starting off point, the first avenue coffee shop on new york city's upper east side. welcome, you look like you are ready to go. it's so nice to meet you. what are you hoping to find, prove and accomplish on this journey? >> well, i'm hoping to find people.

i'm hoping to find americans who will be willing to talk to me. you know, i came to this country ten years ago, wanting to be an american, and now i'm eligible for u.s. citizenship. so i want to go on and find people and i know what being an american means to me and why i came to this country. i want to find people who will share with me what being an american means to them. >> i want to put up a map that shows your route across the country. you're going to be spending your -- most of your time in the lower 48 states. it's not -- doesn't look like the world's most direct route to me. why did you pick the route that you picked? >> so actually, you know, if i had done a straight shot, it would have been about 3,000 miles. what i'm doing, the route you see, it's going to be about 4300 miles. the whole point of this is to meet people from, you know, as many places as i can. >> right. >> i wanted to go, you know, as

many places as i could. >> you said that you know what being an american means to you and at the end of this trip you're going to apply for your american citizenship. you said you know what it means to you but you want to hear what it means to other people. what does it mean to you? >> to me, it means i know it might sound like a cliche, but means the freedom to be who i am, do the kind of work i want to do. i worked at a newspaper in guatemala and i actually had to flee that country to escape persecution, and i came here, i got political asylum here, and here, you know, being able to work as a journalist without fear of persecution, that's -- that kind of freedom. and just the freedom to live my own life. that's in a nutshell, that's what it means to me. >> some things we take for granted sometimes. a great experience for people you run into. you're starting at this diner because it's where you get your

breakfast most of the time. >> i eat here almost every day and, you know, the staff and regular here are awesome. they've been super supportive. they did a little fund-raiser for me and helped me buy some of my gear. i thought it was only fitting to like come have breakfast here one last time before i hit the road. >> how many pairs of shoes are you budgeting for first of all? second, where are you going to sleep? are you sleeping -- people are going to put you up at their houses and hotels. what are the logistics of this trip? >> all right. so i'm going to need about four to five pairs of shoes, we'll see. apparently you can expect to get about 800 to 1,000 miles per pair. you know. i'll see that when i go. as far as sleeping, i see you have -- i have a tent right here. and a sleeping bag. i'll probably be camping out most of the time. i'm going to try to stay at motels, you know, one or two nights a week because i want to shave and, you know, look clean.

i want people to talk to me. >> right. >> i don't want to scare anyone. and then, you know, obviously places where i have friends i will stay with them and if anyone out there actually, if i'm, you know, going near your home and you're kind enough to offer me a place to shower and maybe let me pitch my tent on your, you know, front yard or even let me use your couch, i will take you up on the offer. >> very nice. you should check in with us maybe by phone while you're on the road. we would love to see how you're doing on your trip. we wish you the best of luck and certainly on the other end want to know about what you learned about what people tell you what it means to be an american. what a simple question but i'm sure you'll get remarkable answers. best of luck to you. >> thank you. >> i would get the two eggs over easy with lots of bacon, wheat toast, butter, two cups of coffee, everything at that famous new york diner before you go. >> we're going to follow his route and you can too.

go to walklikeanamerican.org. i think he's going to post pictures and things like that. follow his trip. his handle on twitter is @cddny. his name is constantine no diaz duran. >> we'll tweet out a link. >> very nice to meet him. after more than 25 years together, maria shriver and arnold schwarzenegger are officially calling it quits. shriver filed divorce papers on friday citing ir reconcilable differences, asking for joint custody of the youngest of the cup's four children. he admitted to fathering a child with his former housekeeper. a high-speed boat crash in indiana. it happened during a regatta race in front of thousands of fans. the driver of one of the hydroplanes missed a turn and began backtracking smashing into a rescue boat. the boat was destroyed. all three volunteers on board were injured. 12,000 people allowed to return home now, just in time

for the fourth of july as firefighters begin to get ahold on this huge forest fire in new mexico. the fire near the los alamos nuclear research lab has burned more than 120,000 acres now. firefighters got a boost from some summer rain over the weekend, but they still say the fire is only about 19% contained. and just in time for the busy holiday, the minnesota zoo back open this morning, despite the state's government shutdown. the judge ruled the zoo could use money from other sources like memberships and parking to keep running. minnesota's government has been shut down since friday because democrats and republicans can't reach an agreement on the new budget. a big day for the americans on the fourth of july at the tour de france. the u.s. squad won stage two of the tour yesterday. a team time trial. check this out, watch this video, a french roller skater setting a new record. take a look at this.

>> is that, yes. 95 feet on sunday, shattering the old record of 79 feet. didn't stick the landing but he made it. there was a nice comfy thing for him to bump into when he landed. last may the same guy broke a world record by performing the highest leap from the first floor of the eiffel tower. >> looks like a lot of fun and something i would never do. >> yes. i i would go there. >> the cafe for coffee. nasa prepping for launch of the last ever space shuttle mission on friday. before the big blastoff, we're going to take you on an exclusive tour of a real nasa space shuttle, one that is already history. and these fireworks from provo, utah, saturday night. check this out, nearly 50,000 people turned out to watch the stadium of fire show. "american morning" coming back on this fourth of july. what do you got? restrained driver...

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if you're in the market for a new home, now is the time to buy. that is the message for this morning from the obama administration housing and urban development secretary sean donovan teeing candy crowley he can't predict when home prices will rise again but because foreclosure rates are down, it's unlikely we'll see a further decline in home prices. >> my sense, though, is in the long run, it is a good time to buy, whether it's five months away or a year away, to see sustainable increases. i think it is a good time, long time, to become a homeowner because it's so affordable today compared to where it's been for generations. donovan went on to say that he believes we'll get back to a time when homes are a good investment and i'll be able to make money over time. something you and vi been saying in the long run, in the long run but it's the short run that's hurting people right now because they can't get the loan or don't have 20% sitting in the bank. >> one thing people think about

prices, we talk about prices when if you take a mortgage, a 15 or 30-year mortgage, that interest rate is going to have more impact than the prices. always good to use the calculators out there to come up with the best deal. that was a good discussion. talk about population, a revealing look into the future of the world as imagined by the u.s. census bureau. using its international database, it projects india to be the most populace nation by the year 2050. take a look at this. they are expecting that india will have 1.6 billion people by 2050, that would make china number two, by the way. i'll show you what china is expected to look like. china would be number two, would be holding steady with about 1.3 billion people. where would the u.s. be? the united states, let me show you that, the united states would grow to about 423 million people by 2050. one of the biggest gains will be number four, this one i'm sure is going to surprise you,

nigeria, likely to be the fourth most pew pew his country with 402 million people. look at ethiopia, caught my attention, will be, give that to you, will grow to about 278 million people. putting it into the top ten for the first time. now, those are gainers. let's look at losers. biggest loser, russia would drop from number nine right now to number 16, declining birth rates in that country, relatively low life expectancies to blame. it's just 62 years, by the way, life expectancy for men in russia. it's almost 20 years lower than it is in the united states. so 109 million people. and finally, take a look at japan, another country expected to see its population decline. it's tenth in population right now. it's projected to be 17th in the year 2050. that india one struck me as interesting, inya will move into number one and jostling with china. >> thanks, ali.

the last space shuttle "atlantis" will blast off this friday and bring an amazing era in human history to a close. one of its sisters is enjoying her retirement. space shuttle "discovery." in anticipation of this week's launch, cnn's john zarrella got an exclusive look inside. >> welcome aboard the space shuttle. >> thank you commander. >> we're on the mid-deck right now. >> reporter: these days, bob runs the kennedy space center. before that, he just happened to be an astronaut. flew in space four times, twice as pilot, twice as commander. his first two trips, he was pilot of "discovery." he knows every inch. >> how many seated on the midday. >> flying a crew of seven you have three folk downs there and some over here. >> reporter: he is reminded of a liftoff on "endeavour." >> i mean what a ride. just a sense of speed and acceleration. >> there's main engine start.

pretty soon you'll see the srbs. a lot of shaking and vibrating. >> you're pushed back in your seat and the last minute, you hit that 3g acceleration again and you're at 3gs and hard to breathe and then it's like boom you come forward in your seat like that. >> you really know you're going to space. >> reporter: "discovery" is the first vehicle being retired. when all the cleanup is done, stuff like freon, cryogenics and pyrotechnics she'll be turned over to the smithsonian. not easy, says fanny. her job as flow director was to make sure "discovery" was ready to fly. her job now, make sure "discovery" is museum ready. >> we think of "discovery" as the only member. we've taken care of her for all these years and it's hard for many people to realize we're no longer responsible for that and someone else has to do that for us. it's going to be a big change for some folks. >> reporter: she always dreamed of being a launch director. no woman has ever held that job.

but for now, nasa has nothing for her to launch. back on board. >> let's take you back. >> reporter: we'll take a look in the air loft. crawl about 12 feet. i'm going to drag these cables in too. on the other end is shuttle's cargo bay. spacious enough to hold a school bus. over the 39 flights of "discovery," dozens of astronauts in space suits have been at this exact vantage point, waiting to step out to repair a satellite or build the space station. >> i'll just remember when we landed, i did not want to get out of the commander seat. i mean they were trying to get me out and i'm like this is my spaceship, you can't have it. i didn't want it to end. i just wanted it to go on. it was great. >> reporter: and now, it really has. >> that was cnn's john zarrella reporting. stay with cnn for live coverage friday july 8th at 11:26 a.m. as space shuttle "atlantis" takes

off for the last shuttle mission ever. >> the launch in the corner. >> i'm going to be there. i'm going to be there for lunch. it is 47 minutes after the hour. coming up, it's that time of year again, time to stuff your face. cnn's allan chernoff takes us to coney island for nathen's annual hot dog eating contest. the super bowl of competitive eating. we're going to show you how it's almost matched the big game in marketing hype as well. right now, go to priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning and better than ever! hotel bids to find where you n save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline.

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49 minutes past the hour. here's a look at your headlines this morning. breaking news, six people are missing after a small boat carrying mostly americans sank off mexico's baja, california, peninsula, yesterday. we're told 37 passengers are safe at this hour and there are reports at least one person has died. the u.s. navy is sending a helicopter to help with the rescue effort. deliberations in the casey anthony murder trial are expected to begin today. during closing arguments, the prosecution alleged casey sacrificed her child to live a life of freedom. the defense saying that the case is based on forensic fantasy. former bosnian serb commander ratko mladic kicked out of court this morning. the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. he's accused several war crimes including genocide and extermination. a pipeline that supplies gas to israel exploded earlier this morning in egypt.

authorities say it appears to be an act of sabotage. it's the third such attack since hosni mubarak's government was toppled. >> the minnesota zoo is back open, shut down after a stalemate over the state budget. a judge ruled the zoo can continue to use money from other sources like memberships to keep running. >> prince william and his wife catherine arrived in prince edward island last night, finishing up day four of their tour. the pair attended a ceremony at quebec city hall. a small group of protesters gathered outside opposing the british monarchy. "american morning" back right after this.

later today we're going to get to watch one of the great fourth of july traditions. nathan's annual hot dog eating contest at coney island. >> i never get tired of seeing those guys. sometimes they get them wet first. >> if you're a pro you have to wet the bun first. >> allan chernoff is by the boardwalk at beautiful coney island. this crazy contest is about a lot more than fun in the sun, isn't it? >> this is all about very, very serious business for the professional eaters. there's a lot of tension this morning as well. questions about the competition, can joey chestnut break his world record of 68 hot dogs and buns in only ten minutes? will he be able to fight off the new challenge from the chinese eaters and will sonya thomas, the black widow, will she finally win her own championship belt in the first ever women's only competition. a lot of questions. but for the sponsor, nathan's

famous, it's all about the marketing. >> reporter: you're watching all-american marketing. nathan's hot dog eating contest is a bonanza for the fast food contest as the eaters have expanded their gastric capabilities, the event's popularity has soared and so have sales of nathan's hot dogs. piling up seven years in a row to 453 million last year. >> this is one of the greatest marketing stunts ever put forth in the united states. >> reporter: it's a natural for nathan's which first opened at the fun-filled amusement park 96 years ago. in the late 1970s, the contest was just a coney island side show, fought off by pr stunt man max rosy. his protege is george and his brother rich are the marketing men who have brought competitive eating into the modern era. they've created a phenomenon like introduced the coveted

mustard yellow championship belt, having espn cover the event, and promoting the eaters as professional athletes. >> it's absolutely a sport and it has all the tenants of sports and these guys are athletes for sure. >> reporter: this year's stunt, building a new ri roo valry between the u.s. and china, flying chinese eaters to coney island when nathan's happens to be embarking on a major expansion in china. >> if they take the belt they're going to be eating our lunch literally. >> reporter: the media eats it up, not just in coney island. they have qualifying competitions across the country and sponsors for other eating events, chicken wings, oysters, hamburgers, all part of what they call major league eating. >> reporter: and just to show it's not all about conspicuous consumption, nathan's famous is donating 100,000 hot dogs and buns to the new york food bank.

another smart marketing move. back to you in the studio. >> we talk about the chinese challenges. we even have one in a hot dog eating. normally you think about that as an economic issue. we don't often see what happens after the contest. i mean, 68 is the record? >> yes. joey chestnut set that record two years ago. last year, actually was a very, very disappointing session. it was brutally hot here, chestnut ate only 54 hot dogs and buns, so we really want to see can he come back? there's been talk about was its heat, the cooking? the thought is maybe the hot dogs were cooked a little too early, they got tight and that affected his consumption. just don't know. chestnut himself was devastated. he won but nonetheless still devastated. can he come back this year? big, big question. >> we'll be watching. alan, good to see you. thank you. that's certainly a new angle for the nathan's famous hot dog

eating contest. deliberations in the casey anthony murder trial expected to begin today. during closing arguments the prosecution alleged casey sacrificed her child to live a free life. >> that brings us to the question of the day. do you think the prosecution has proved its case against casey anthony? >> sandra v. on a blog says yes, i think the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, over and over again. anyone would have to be deaf, blind and stupid to think casey anthony should get anything less than charged with first-degree murder. she obviously acted alone. she is guilty of murdering her child and then some. i'll tell you, there's a jury that has to decide that. >> jeanne on facebook, says, of course, any time a child dies someone close to the child is responsible. george testified the last time he saw caylee was with casey, it's not rocket science. >> and on our blog, sharon says the burden to create enough reasonable doubt was not handled well by the defense. so the prosecution gets the pass mark for doing a better job proving their case. on facebook, lopez says prosecutors did a slop gee job. this will be another o.j.

simpson case. >> keep your comments coming. america is fascinated by this case and the mention of oj is interesting because i haven't seen this much public interest in a case since the oj simpson trial more than a decade ago. send us an e-mail, tweet, tell us on facebook. we will read some of your thoughts later in the program. "american morning" back right after this break. there's another way to help eliminate litter box dust: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder on dust. and our improved formulas neutralize odors better than ever in multiple-cat homes. so it's easier to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home.

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case may be going to the jury on fourth of july. closing arguments in the casey anthony murder trial. the prosecution painting a picture of a serial liar. the young mom who they say sacrificed her child for freedom on this "american morning." welcome to "american morning." it is monday, the fourth of july. wow, happy holidays for everyone out there. kiran is off enjoying it. >> breaking news right now. six people are missing after a small boat carrying mostly americans sank off of mexico's baja, california, peninsula. officials say 44 people were on the boat when it left the port of san felipe. we're told the boat hit rough weather and sank almost immediately. 37 of the passengers are safe and back on dry land. there are reports of at least one person having died. the u.s. navy is sending a helicopter to help with the rescue effort. we'll continue to monitor the

story and bring you the latest developments throughout the morning. meantime the casey anthony case could go to the jury today after heated, emotional and powerful closing arguments in the murder trial. prosecution describing the clash between the life they say casey wanted and the life she had. the defense using the jury or urging the jury to base their verdict on evidence rather than emotion. cnn's david mattingly joins us live outside the courthouse in orlando, florida. they're not under way yet, david, but what's the order of business today? >> what we're going to see today, the prosecution will have a chance to finish up with its closing arguments, then the jury will go through a lengthy instructional period from the judge, and then they're going to start deliberating. but as you were talking about just a second ago, this case now coming down to the knitty gritty here, and the emotions are very high, even while the defense was cautioning the jury to stay away from emotion and look at the facts, things got emotional between the attorneys.

when defense attorney jose baez was making a point about, perhaps, casey anthony's father having access to the duct tape in this case, he looked over and saw prosecutor jeff ashton smiling and here's what happened. >> we're not talking about fantasy forensics anymore. we're talking about cold hard evidence, evidence that points to one person, one person only. he could get up here and lie all he wants and dance around the truth, but the truth is the truth and he -- and depending on who's asking the questions, whether it's this laughing guy right here or whether it's myself. >> objection. >> sustained. approach the bench. >> reporter: did you hear that? he called him laughing guy. immediately the judge called them both up to the bench and then had some very strong words to warn them. he doesn't want to see either side doing anything like that again and said if it does happen again, whoever does it, is going

to get thrown out of the courtroom and won't be able to participate in the rest of this trial. very strong words to keep this thing on track here at the end as we're now preparing for this case to go to the jury. >> all right. david, thanks very much. we'll stay on top of this with you through the course of the day. it is expected this could go to the jury today. >> so let's bring in sunny hostin, former federal prosecutor and legal contributor for "in session" on trutv. you saw the laughing guy reference, the prosecutor laughing behind his hand. was that stage craft for the jury, appropriate, inappropriate, a minor blip in the whole thing? >> it was really inappropriate. i've been watching jeff ashton. he's a passionate prosecutor and you know i was a prosecutor. there are moments when you're really in the moment but you can never as an officer of the court forget that the jury is there and the jury is watching you. he has been sort of making these expressions throughout. he did it in the opening statements, he's done it now in

closing arguments and i think that these are just two gladiators at war with each other and it's gotten a bit personal, but i think jeff ashton really crossed the line. jose baez, what we didn't show is, he asked the court not to sanction and not to hold the prosecution in contempt. he said they've been there for three years and he didn't want that to happen. he really rose to the occasion. >> that happens, then it creates other opportunities for saying that trial didn't go as expected. we've been asking this as our question of the day, whether people think the prosecution proved its case. >> i saw. >> i'm a bit surprised. a number of people who say no. >> yeah. yeah. >> whether -- they haven't proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. >> this is a circumstantial case, lot of circumstantial evidence, no direct evidence linking casey anthony to this crime. i think that's why people are uncomfortable with it. it's a capital case. they feel you need more to put someone to death. i think it's a pretty strong circumstantial case and the closing argument was very, very compelling and very effective by

jeff ashton. so they do get the last word because the burden of proof is on the prolgscusion. we're going to hear one more time from the prosecution in rebuttal and i would imagine we're going to see more fireworks. >> how is casey anthony's responses? how are they playing, do you think, to the jury? she was angry, crying, sobbing, grimacing, what was that about? >> a lot of it i feel is theater because as you've mentioned i've been watching it from the very beginning so i get to watch when the jury isn't in the courtroom. when the jury isn't in the courtroom we're not seeing these theatrics. we are seeing them when the jury there is. and so i think part of it is drama and theater for her. the jury is certainly, we know from studies, watching everything that she does so it's too soon to say how they're going to react to it but they're watching and noticing. >> if you're this jury, been in this a long time, over all the details and they get the charge and they go in to start deliberating, is it a long deliberation, is it quick? >> well, i remember being a prosecutor and this is the most

difficult time for a prosecutor. quick viewers are usually in the benefit of the prosecution. long verdicts, long deliberations usually a defense oriented verdict. >> because they're struggling in there. they're trying to work through this doubt. >> in the meet heath of battle. 12 angry men, that thing going on. if we see a short verdict, it's going to be a prosecution verdict. if it starts dragging out day to day, then i think it's a defense verdict. >> all right. we'll be talking to you again, sunny hostin, it's fascinating. we're all working today. >> pins and needles. thanks. former bosnian serb commander ratko mladic kicked out of court this morning. the judge removing mladic from the chambers after multiple disruptions. maddic refused to enter a plea and claimed the judge wasn't allowing him to breathe. those are his quotes. the court entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. he's expected of war crimes including genocide. he's accused of ordering the shelling in ser yeah vo and

massacre of 8,000 muslim men and boys in srebrenica in the 90s. a police officer and father of two shot to death at a hotel in memphis. police say officer warren was responding to a report of shots fired at the hotel. responders had already found the body of one victim when shots started flying again. warren was fatally hit, pronounced dead at the the hospital. the shooting suspect is in custody. two people including a toddler killed shot execution at a pennsylvania summer home. three others shot in the head are in serious condition this morning. the survivors haven't been able to speak so police don't have a description of the shooter. what we know right now is the home is owned by a new york city couple who were among the wounded. police still don't have any clear motive in the story. flames lighting up the night sky in egypt after an attack on a pipeline that supplies gas to israel. the egyptian army says the explosion appears to be an act of sabotage and right now the flow of gas to israel and jordan has been shut off. this is the third time egyptian gas pipelines have been attacked since that uprising this spring

that toppled hosni mubarak's government. new video of hugo chavez in cuba there undergoing cancer treatment. venezuela's vice president says chavez could stay in cuba as long as 180 days. chavez admitted last week to having a cancerous tumor removed in cuba. a bold new step for thailand for the first time a woman's in charge. yingluck shinawatra is set to become the country's new prime minister. her party won the majority of thailand's 500 member parliament. her brother was kicked out of office during a coup five years ago. novak djokovic the top tennis player when the rankings are announced today. he beat rafael nadal in four sets to win the wimbledon title. the first time since february of 2004 that a man other than roger federer or rafael nadal has been number one. >> that's amazing. >> you may not know him but 7.4 million baseball fans do. >> everybody in toronto does. >> the blue jays outfielder jose

batista received the most votes in all-star game history, beating ken griffey junior's record of 6 million. he had 54 home runs last year and leads the majors this season. the new york yankees led the way with six all-star selections. up next on "american morning," the battle over the debt ceiling, talks going nowhere, congress back at work tomorrow, can we expect some kind of compromise. >> fists fly in the philippines. >> watch what happens. >> this is actually a mayor, oh, laying the smack down on a police officer. we're going to tell you what this is all about coming up next. [ male announcer ] this is larry... whose long day starts with arthritis pain... and a choice. take tylenol arthritis and maybe up to six in a day...

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welcome back to "american morning." just about four weeks to go until the nation's borrowing limit reaches its debt line. as the pressure mounts and republicans and democrats, they are in their bunkers, they are digging in their heels, they are at their positions. >> they're not even close. they have different approaches to this. brianna keilar live at the white house. brianna, what's the deal here? because we're less than a month

away. the president has told everybody get down to work but nobody has said okay, let's. >> is the bottom line that you have entitlement reform on one hand and tax increases on the other hand and they're both kind of like hunkered around those things? >> right now, i think saying that they're really sort of in their bunkers is a really good way to put it, guys. right now the impasse is over tax increases. of course, happy fourth of july to you, of course. a great day to celebrate but what it means is we're getting close to the august 2nd deadline the treasury department has set for the legal limit the u.s. can borrow. you have house republicans being exactly and democrats, being exactly where we saw them about a week and a half ago. republicans saying there cannot be tax increases and democrats really now, their tactic is to target what they call tax loopholes, tax breaks that hedge fund operators enjoy, corporate jet owners enjoy, oil and gas companies are getting, not quite

as for sif russly, advocating to limiting deductions that wealthier americans, those making $250,000 or more per year take on their taxes. this is what the president is calling right now a balanced approach, saying if you're going to be, you know, cutting programs for seniors and for poor americans you need to be looking at tax increases for corporations and wealthy americans. but we are still in the same place. republicans insisting that any kind of tax increases can hurt the economy and we'll see where things go this week both the house and the senate are in session and president obama is in town. >> tell me this then. there are a lot of things where you can say we can compromise on this and that. these two sides don't see its right way. what could be the breakthrough here. republicans arsaying under no circumstances do we increase taxes on virtually anything and democrats say it can't just be all cuts. >> at a certain point one side is going to have to blink.

what you've seen is democrats start to narrow down, instead of insisting on sort of widespread tax increases we're talking about increasing taxes for certain brackets, they're talking about specific tax increases and they feel this is very important because they're saying if you're going to cut programs, you need to be looking at some sort of tax increases. it seems like they've kind of narrowed what they want and you did hear yesterday, some republicans saying, you know, we do need to be looking at the way -- we do need to be looking at the tax code and so there's some language there, but it's certainly kind of amorphous and still early to see if they can come to kind of agreement. >> it needs to get more fussed very quickly. this is important that congress gave up its july 4th recess to get back to work tomorrow on the nation's budget crisis. if the debt ceiling isn't raised by august 2nd the u.s. treasury won't be able to pay off its

bills. we've seen it before, but never so close to default. i want to show you what our debt ceiling looks like. congress from 1917 to the president, they've raised it 78 times since 1960. and since the nation's debt reached the $1 trillion mark back in the 1980s, government borrowing has been climbing and climbing at an expo tensional rate. my beef quite frankly, is all along here, you had plenty of time not to get right to the edge like we are right now. right now, the debt ceiling is $14.2 trillion. that's about 95 -- there you go, about 95% of the size of the whole economy. we're fast approaching rates not seen since the great depression. this is the size of our national debt, ali, when in relationship to the entire size of the economy. world war ii, great depression, you saw our debt really balloon here as the size of the economy. this is almost approaching 120, 140%. then look here we are right now, 2009, getting up there. this is what economists call a

debt crisis quite frankly, when you have your debt bigger than the size of your entire economy. the bottom line, america has been a borrowing nation. right now for every dollar the united states spends, every dollar your government spends, it has to borrow 38 cents of that. ali, if the debt ceiling is not raised the u.s. could have to default on some of its payments, the last thing we need when recovering from a recession. that's how important it is. this part of your government, by august 2nd, can't borrow. >> i'm going to say what others say to us. >> sure. >> that this is not the armageddon that treasury secretary timothy geithner and, in fact, some democrats say it is, that the danger of defaulting is not as serious as not fixing the debt crisis over the longer term. >> they're both very serious crises. you're asking politicians to try to do the nuance of both of them and that's where people get worried. they don't think these guys have the political wherewithal to get it done. the president i think last week said that results would be

catastrophic, but it's unpredictable what the world would think if we can borrow money. the united states takes in by an amount unsustainable, everyone agrees. fixing it in the short -- there's talk about floating a mini fix in the near term, not popular with anyone, punts it down the road, we'll have to see where they go. >> after the last three years i'm not looking for a whole lot more unpredictable in financial markets. call it a mayoral beat down. check out this video. mayor in the city of the philippines started throwing fists at that city's sheriff. caught on camera. the mayor is the one in the blue. smack down. she was angry because the sheriff wouldn't hold off on knocking down a slum area. the mayor is taking a five-day leave of absence while the government investigates the beat down. coming up on "american morning," prince william and wife catherine continuing their tour in canada. in montreal a group gave them a royal snub. 19 minutes after the hour.

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22 minutes after the hour. minding your business this morning. u.s. stock markets are closed for the holiday today. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 closed higher friday. that boosted -- boosted by manufacturing numbers and an easing of those concerns in greece. looking to a big jobs number on friday to give us a sense of how things are going back here at home. eu's leaders have approved a $17 billion emergency funding for greece over the weekend. protests turned violent last week after parliament added new austerity measures including new pay cuts for public workers to secure the funds from the eu. a study says people are adding more to their retirement

nest eggs. those savings rose to about $18 trillion the last quarter. according to the investment company institute, up 10% from the same time last year and below the record high in 2007. the group anonymous claiming it stole 2 dozen user name and passwords of achle employees. anonymous tweeted about the attack sunday night and posted the hacked info on line. no customer information was stolen. cnn's calls to apple have not been returned. at latest "transformers" movie winning big, the third installment of the sci-fi series raked in $95 million in sales. that is a new record for the holiday weekend. "cars 2" placed second. for the latest news about your money check out the new cnnmoney.com. "american morning" back right after the break. a living, breathing intelligence that's helping drive the future of business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ machines have a voice. ♪

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royal royalty. prince albert tied the knot. >> they did. >> it happened. the 53-year-old married charlene wittstock from south africa. albert's sisters, both princesses and french president sarkozy were among the 3500 guests in attendance. afterward albert and his bride toured the country in a custom lexus. of course the country is two square miles. >> true. true. but beautiful. beautiful place up there on the hill to get married. the royal couple continues their tour of canada the other royal couple, prince william and wife catherine arrived at prince edward island. >> a group of protesters gathered in montreal and chanted and carried signs to oppose the prince's tour. max? >> yeah. the couple toured quebec over the weekend and it is an anti-monarchy stronghold if you like. actually they were a great success. they were in montreal, a couple public visits and some protests

there, but i would say more fans of william and catherine there. but then they made the pretty bold move going to quebec city. strong anti-monarchy movement. they inspected a -- a sepp ceremonial event there, which william spoke at, purely in french. that really won rounds the audience of quebec as it were. they went on a public walkabout. that was a success. they arrived here in prince edward island last night. i had a chance to meet william and catherine last time. they're very pleased with the visit and looking forward to the rest of it and l.a. later on. lots of tv moments expected today. >> max foster thanks so much. james taylor playing in the background, another fine canadian soul. top stories, search resuming after a tour boat with 27 americans aboard sank off the coast of baja, peninsula, in the sea of cortez. there were 44 people on board when it capsized. six are still missing and reports one person has died.

u.s. coast guard is sending a helicopter to help with the search once the sun comes out. we're told the boat hit some rough weather yesterday and sank almost immediately. exxon mobil is mopping up in montana after a burst pipeline spewed 1,000 barrels of oil into the yellowstone river. recent flooding has made cleanup difficult but officials say swift currents and high water could help break up the oil. officials say some of the oil has washed ashore, but they see no sign of harm to wildlife, at least yet. we could learn this week whether prosecutors will drop charges against dominique strauss-kahn. the former international monetary fund chief was released on his own recognizance on friday after the prosecution said there are credibility problems with the accuser. leading french socialists are calling on their party to give strauss-kahn a chance to cheat in next year's elections. >> the credibility of the witness why the prosecution moved so quickly or the government moved so quickly and now you know, he's leased on

his -- released on his own recognizance. >> no one is saying nothing didn't happen, but they don't have a credible witness to base a trial. >> we'll follow that for you. deliberations expected to begin after powerful closing arguments in the casey anthony murder trial. the prosecution alleging casey sacrificed her child for a life of freedom. the defense says the prosecution's case is based on fantasy forensics. the state gets a chance to rebut the defense's arguments today. that brings us to our question of the day. do you think the prosecution has proved its case against casey anthony? here's some of your responses. from facebook, denny says, the law says, quote, proven beyond a reasonable doubt end quote. the prosecution's case is purely circumstantial and leaves some of those doubts. she's not innocent but will be found not guilty of murder one -- will not be -- will be found not guilty of murder one, i'm sorry, but maybe guilty of a lesser charge. >> larry reagans on the blogs, the prosecution has not proven

casey anthony's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. sure casey anthony lied many times but lying isn't murder. christian says on facebook, no one has proven how this child died. no one knows beyond a reasonable doubt. you can't convict someone on a theory. >> i believe they have. the defense did enough to prevent the death penalty but not enough for casey anthony to walk. >> it's quite possible that they will get the case today. the jury will get the case to deliberate today. and as sunny hostin said, quick return by the jury often favors the prosecution and a longer one tends to favor the defense. >> right. this july 4 as we celebrate those who fought for our independence want to remember the u.s. soldiers fighting overseas right now. you may remember the year-long series "a soldier's story" reported last year by jason carroll. he's back in afghanistan with one of those soldiers, sergeant randy shorter. >> sergeant shorter was part of the surge who arrived last august. his one-year mission is nearly complete. jason is live from shirr rana in the northeastern part of

afghanistan. happy fourth of july to you, nice to see you. >> and happy fourth of july to you. i'm going to bring in randy shorter right now. i have to tell you, we now have to refer to him as first sergeant randy shorter because he's since been promoted since the last time the two of us were together. let me bring you in here now. tell us about, what was it september, august, the last time i was with you guys? >> tell me what the past several months have been like? the taliban has been exerting its influence in the area. how has it been for you? >> for me and my men it's been quite busy. getting out there, getting after it. we've been steadily, you know, helping the afghan people here. we've been promoting a lot of projects, a lot of schools, getting out there every day. >> also, congratulations on that promotion. >> thank you. >> also, much has been said about the draw down. you and some of your men will be leaving in just a few weeks. how do you feel about that? because there's been, you know, politically there's been discussions on both sides, some

saying it's time for the draw down, others saying not the time for it. >> you know it's very exciting for us. it's about time about time we start looking at a draw plan and getting back to our families. we've been at it about ten years now. >> long time. >> long time. and, you know, it's about time the afghan people start taking responsibility of their country. >> it is the fourth of july, i know you guys, you're able to have some of the fourth of july barbecue lunch today. >> oh, yeah. >> but after that, not much rest, right? you guys will have to get for security reasons you can't talk a lot about the mission coming up, but tell us how you guys mark the fourth of july? >> today's the birthday of the united states. you know, july 4th, 1776. we went ahead and had a little barbecue for lunch. unfortunately -- >> it was good, you guys. very good. >> unfortunately, duty calls. we still got a mission. we still have things do do here. we just did our mission brief, pcis, precombat to make sure,

duty calls. >> we'll be out there with you on that combat mission later on. but also, this is an opportunity for you and later some of the other men here to give a shout out to your family. your wife cheryl, i know she's sitting at home watching. this is an opportunity for you to say something to cheryl and your two lovely daughters. >> well, cheryl, milaneny, arianna, i love you so much, few more weeks, be in your arms shortly. happy fourth of july. have a good one. >> they're awfully quiet now, but you should see what they're like when the camera is not on. they're quite wild. >> a great group of guys. checking in with them throughout the day on "american morning" on some of the other shows. marking this fourth of july. but also, it's just a reminder even though it's a holiday, the war still goes on and these guys will be heading out on another combat mission in several hours from now. christine, ali, thank you very much. must be great for first sergeant shorter's family to hear. >> wait until he comes home and

sees the honey-do list. >> supplies are short in afghanistan so jason couldn't get a full-sized shirt. it's a kid's t-shirt. >> i think he has nice arms. >> big arms. there you go. still ahead, get ready for a spec tack fourth of july -- spectacular fourth of july. we're talking to the conductor of the boston pops and their star-studded event tonight. >> if you like monkeys, you can relax. the court has ruled in your favor. minnesota government shut down over a budget impasse continues, but the state zoo is getting a pass. we'll tell you about that at 35 minutes after the hour. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein! really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older,

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washington, d.c. >> nation's capitol, mostly cloudy, 74. thunderstorms later, 92. >> hopefully will cool it off, but it's a busy day on the mall. >> certainly is. congress is off today. they will be back at work tomorrow so lawmakers can focus on raising the debt ceiling. the white house said on august 2nd four weeks away, the government will run out of money to pay all of the nation's bills in full and on time. they will be able to pay some stuff. over the weekend former president clinton urged president obama to stand firm against republican opposition to increasing tax revenue and just in case you don't really believe that august 2nd date, treasury came out again last week and said we're not kidding, it is august 2nd. >> the fact of the matter, the message it sends to the world when we're deciding whether to pay our mortgage or car note, like the white house likes to say, pay our chinese investors

interest but maybe not social security payments, you get an iou from the government. >> it's a bad place for the government to be. >> not a good position to be in. just in time for the holiday, the minnesota zoo back open despite the state government's shutdown. a judge ruled the zoo could use money from other sources like memberships and parking to keep running. this is a busy weekend for the zoo there. minnesota's government has been shut down since friday because democrats and republicans can't reach an agreement on a new budget. sounds familiar, doesn't it? >> the zoo has fixed costs because they have the monkeys to feed. >> they have revenue they can count on, people coming in and paying to walk in the front door. >> helpful to people in minnesota to do that today. a lot of government shfrs services are shut down. end of an amazing era in human history. nasa will launch its last space shuttle on friday. "atlantis" is blasting off to the international space station, the final flight for nasa's program. the space agency has new goals to touch an asteroid and send

hue hans to mars. >> don't miss the history-lifting liftoff, stay with cnn for live coverage, this friday, july 8th at 11:26 a.m. i love that graphic. the space shuttle "atlantis" takes off for the last time. >> can we keep doing that? can we do that again, michele? >> can you make it come out of his ear? >> look at that. watch this. >> you're like powers, ask for it, like that. what would the fourth of july be without fireworks? q. nothing. every year people pack charles river, the esplanade. it's the boston pops fireworks spectacular and concert. >> to give us a preview of what we can expect is keith lockhart conductor of the boston pops orchestra. happy fourth of july, welcome to the program this morning. >> thank you. good morning. happy fourth of july. >> what's the preparation like, the sleepless nights as you head into the big day? what are you all preparing for this morning? >> well it's so funny, in many

ways we start planning for the program for next year's program on july 5th. somehow always comes down to a huge last-minute scramble and this year was no different. we finished meeting about things about 1:00 yesterday morning and people are putting those things into motion even as we speak. >> all right. this is the 38th year. it's really quite -- there are fantastic july 4th celebrations across the country, but this one is quite remarkable. how did it get started? >> well, it got started with my predecessor at the boston pops, arthur fiedler, the iconic musician there 50 years, with a boston businessman david newguard still involved in the program and took what was a free series of consirts serts on the charles river esplanade where we perform today and we should do a proper fourth of july concert and a big loud piece that blows things up. the idea of doing a specific fourth of july concert was born and the concert has swollen until we have as many as 700 or

800,000 people attending live and going nationally on tv. >> the big loud piece that blows things up, is the tchaikovsky 1812 owe va tour, across the country everyone tries to use. that was arthur fiedler's brainchild. >> a piece written by a russian to celebrate the victory has become a patriotic item. what can people who are getting ready to see this or deciding they're making their way to the charles river esplanade, what are some of the highlights? >> well, two-hour concert followed by one of the most spectacular fireworks concert you'll see. martina mcbride is our headliner soloist and joined by michael chiklis in the capacity as master of ceremonies and singing with the band. the u.s. army soldiers chorus and field band, great patriotic music and a lot of fun. a great party. >> all right. it's going to be a great time. if anybody wants to watch it, it's on locally in the boston

area wbz tv from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. >> you were going to have line n lionel rich chif but he had a vocal problem. you never know how things are going to work out in the days before. >> you start planning on july 5th and july 3rd everything changes. mr. ritchie withdrew about less than 72 hours ago. and we've been -- we scrambled quickly and martina was incredibly gracious but she had no ork stral arrangements. >> it's going to go off flawlessly nonetheless. congratulations. we're going to enjoy watching it. watch it across the country from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. on tv tonight. have a great, great time. >> thanks. i will try. take care. morning headlines are next. listen up parents, if your little one is a motor mouth or is slow to start talking, what does that mean growing up and

what your kid's language skills say. >> people always worry when their kids are late to start speaking. >> were you a late speaker, ali? you haven't stopped since you started. >> i was early and constant. most of you subsequently realize that anyway, but the news is good for you. we'll tell you about that. plus, your belly button, it seems it should be designated a bacterial nature reserve. we'll explain what yuckiness scientists found in there. even the scientists were shocked. when they say they found a new ecosystem, your belly button is like that. 45 minutes after the hour. [ male announcer ] it's 2011 and everything is different. different jobs... ♪ ...different challenges. ♪ different opportunities. ♪ so why would universities stay the same? ♪

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47 minutes after the hour. here are your morning headlines. breaking news, six people are missing after a small boat carrying mostly americans sank off mexico's baja california peninsula yesterday. 37 passengers are safe and there are reports at least one person has died. the u.s. navy is sending a leapt to help with the rescue effort this morning. exxon mobil mopping up in montana after a burst pipeline spewed 1,000 barrels of oil into the yellowstone river. officials say some of that oil has washed ashore, but current river conditions could make cleanup easier helping to break up and disperse that oil. 12,000 people allowed to return home just in time for the fourth of july.

as firefighters begin to get ahold of a huge forest fire in new mexico. that fire near the los alamos nuclear research lab has now burned more than 120,000 acres. u.s. stock markets are closed for the holiday today. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all closed higher friday boosted by some strong manufacturing numbers and easing concerns in greece. investors looking to the big jobs report for june, that comes out this friday. the senate gets back to work tomorrow instead of taking its holiday recess, now it's focusing on raising the debt ceiling. the obama administration has said if a deal is not reached by august 2nd the government will run out of money to pay the nation's bills in full and on time. former international monetary fund leader dominique strauss-kahn could learn as early as this week whether he'll be free of charges that he allegedly sexually assaulted a hotel maid. authority says they are -- there are now concerns about the accuser's credibility. deliberations in the casey anthony murder trial expected to begin today in about an hour from now. during closing arguments the

prosecution alleged casey sacrificed her child so she could live a freer life. the defense says that the case is based on forensic fantasy. you're caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" back right after this break.

happy fourth of july, atlanta. this is a typical summer atlanta day. 74 degrees. >> hot, hot and hot. >> you wake up at 74, you think it's fantastic. partly cloudy. it will be thunderstorms and 94 later on today but then it gets nice right after the storms. >> here is something else that is hot and moist. >> and not atlanta.

>> home to more bacteria that has never been seen before by humans. it's all in your belly button. hot, moist and full of bacteria. uggh. >> we think the belly dancers probably have a cleaner belly button. they probably do belly button maintenance, unlike the most of us. the navals of volunteers were swabbed. >> i would love to see how they were recruited. the belly button diversity project. 1,400 distinct bacterial strains were found. funny part, nearly half of them have never been seen before anywhere. scientists wanted to study the belly button because it's hard to clean. it was meant to ease the public's fear of disease. >> probably there's a lot of skin because there's no other contact in there. >> right. it's on its own. i don't want to start like a belly button phobia, naval phobia. >> i thought you were going to say fettish. >> i'm at ease with my belly

button. you see things to clean your ears and your eyes. you don't see a lot of stuff dedicated to cleaning the belly button f. your child isn't speaking too much by 2 years old, don't panic. a new study says they should be fine by the time you start kindergarten. >> if your child doesn't talk much tell them to start cleaning out their belly button. >> it must be the odd bacteria down there. >> so what's the story? >> a lot of parents panic if their child shall at 2, isn't talking or saying many words. australian researchers decided to follow these kids and see how they do later on in childhood. what they found is that 80% of the kids they studied who were having problems at age 2 were up to speed by kindergarten, perfectly fine and the other 20%

most of those were perfectly fine later on in childhood. for most kids, really, parents, don't worry. they will be okay. >> parents worry about hitting those milestones, things that parents look for by the age of 2. these are how doctors find these early signs that you need intervention, if your child may be on the autism spectrum. our doctors tell us to. what should we be looking for? >> you want to be vigilant and watch for these milestones, but don't freak out if your child isn't meeting them. for example, you should take a look and see, by age 2, your child should be able to walk alone, recognize names for themselves and other people in their lives. they should also be able to imitate others. take a look at cnn.com/thechart, there's a wonderful blog with a link for all the milestones that your child is supposed to reach at various ages. >> what should you talk about

with your pediatrician when it comes to speaking abilities? >> let look at these children at age 2, what they should be able to do and what you should be worried about or concerned about or at least talk to your pediatrician about if they're not able to do it. a child, if they don't imitate action or words or can't follow simple instructions, those are issues. if they lose skills. if they're able to do something and them can't, definitely talk to your pediatrician. again, it's important that parents not be overly worried. talk to your pediatrician. get their guidance and tell them how concerned you are and see if this is something that really needs further follow-up. >> so many milestones you don't think about. making eye contact, running on their tiptoes, using their fingers, starting to use other things. so many milestones to hit, it's almost overwhelming as a parent. we'll go to that blog and check them all out. thank you, elizabeth cohen. >> thank you. looking good! you lost some weight.

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breaking news this morning, lost at sea. a small boat, carrying mostly americans, sinks off the baja coast. details just ahead. apple hacked. stolen passwords and user names from a server. find out if your user

information could be compromised on this "american morning." kiran chetry has the morning off. ali velshi and i are here this morning. 44 people, officials say, were on the boat when it left the port of san felipe. we're told that the boat hit some rough weather and sank almost immediately. >> 34 people were rescued. reports at least one person has died. >> they were able to swim to shore. >> petty officer from the coast guard. 37 people have been rescued. what is the latest now? you're probably still waiting for the sun to rise so you can see the situation and get more rescue out there? >> that's correct, yes. right now, the numbers remain the same. we're still waiting to launch our helicopter to assist in the rescue of six missing people.

>> so six are still missing? >> that's correct. we are still planning to launch a helicopter from san diego to aid in the rescue of the six missing people. 37 people alive and one report of of a fatality. >> petty officer boehland, who is conducting the search? i believe you're assisting but the mexicans are conducting the seven. what's the area like? what's the terrain, the water condition? >> that's correct, it's actually the mexican navy that's running this search and the coast guard was asked to provide a helicopter to provide some arial support for this search. a waterside rescue, nothing new for the coast guard. we conduct waterside rescues all the time. we received a report that the wind is pushing about 20 knots and it's relatively good visibility. >> can you tell us what kind of

tour this was? you called it a fishing boat. was it a fishing tour, sight seeing crsee ing cruise? are we any closer to knowing why it capsized? it happened pretty quickly, didn't it? >> yes, ma'am. i understand that it hit rough water and sank almost immediately. it was a fishing charter. it was hired to do a fishing trip not for commercial use but for fun, for pleasure. >> probably an hour, still, from getting some sunlight or is it starting to come out there? >> we're about half an hour from launch time for the helicopter. >> we'll keep posted on this story with you. petty officer boehland, thanks for joining us. a group of hackers claim to have hit apple, the group anonymous claiming responsibility for this attack, introduced a small amount of internal passwords. that information did not belong to the public or apple

customers. fox news politics, the site announced that president obama had been shot dead while campaigning in iowa. president obama is very much alive and well. a group called the script kitty has claimed responsibility for this hacking. fox news has released a statement saying the reports are not true. foxnews.com regrets any distress that the false tweets may have created. former bosnia/serbmladic kicked out of court after several outbursts. >> mr. mladic -- mr. mladic, the court orders that you be removed from the courtroom. could security please escort mr. mladic out of the courtroom? could mr. mladic --

[ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: you are not a court. who are you? you're not allowing me to breathe. >> the court entered a not guilty plea on mladic's behalf. he is accused of war crimes and genocide. a pipeline that belongs to israel. the egyptian army says it appears to be an act of sabotage. the flow of natural gas to israel and jordan has been shut off. this is the third time they've been shut off. you remember friday the prosecutors announce their main witness, the alleged victim, apparently she has a credibility problem. as a result, strauss-kahn was

released from house arrest. that alleged victim claims that assault may be false, some conversations about her boyfriend -- >> who is in jail. >> -- and said don't worry, this guy has a lot of money. i know what i'm doing. a whole host of concern that prosecutors now have. in the casey anthony murder trial, prosecution describing the clash between the life they say casey anthony wanted without a child and the life that she had, the one of freedom. >> the defense urging the jury to base their verdict on evidence not on emotional. david mattingly joins us in orlando, florida, outside the courtroom. >> reporter: final closing arguments from the prosecution. they get the last say in front of this jury. it is their burden to prove that casey anthony murdered her young daughter. but while we were watching yesterday, we were seeing in

this circumstantial case just how easy it was for each side to expose some weaknesses in what the other was saying. at times, they sounded very much alike. listen. >> that's what they're doing here. let's throw it all against the wall and see what sticks, right down to their cause of death. one week, it was chloroform. today, it's duct tape. let's make up our minds. >> either george anthony is the person that put the tape on, which we know is not true, or roy kronk is the one who put the tape on. you can't do both! >> now what we are seeing now is that the prosecution will have the final word. they are going to counter a lot of the things we heard from the defense yesterday. this jury is going to have a lot to consider. remember, there were 33 days of testimony. we heard from scores of witnesses. and soon it will be in their

hand hands to determine the fate of casey anthony. >> david, how is the jury reacting to these arguments? is there any way to tell? >> we have watched them. they have been paying very, very close attention. closing arguments have been heated at times. they haven't missed a single word. haven't missed a single beat. yesterday, they were starting to fidget a little bit in their seats toward the end of the day. that's when the judge said we need to stop now. i want you bright eyed and bushy tailed for tomorrow when we wrap this up so you can get this in your hands and really start to work tomorrow. >> david mattingly, thank you so much, david. you'll be following it all day in orlando. do you think the prosecution has proved its case against casey anthony? it's our question of the day. e-mail us, give us your tweet. sonny hostin has been talking about this on facebook for weeks now. we'll read those comments later on in the program. john edwards is expected to show up for a court hearing

tomorrow. fighting charges of conspiracy and campaign law. he is accused of using campaign funds to cover up an extra marital affair. maria shriver and arnold schwarzenegger are officially calling it quits. shriver filed divorce papers, citing irreconcilable differences. she is asking for joint custody. schwarzenegger admitted to an affair with his housekeeper. planning to boost the country's infrastructure from subway extensions to big salaries. interestingly, her brother was thrown out of office during a bloody coup back in 2006. wedding bells for prince albert of monaco. >> look at that train. >> they may be all that long. you just never see that shot of it. he married olympic swimmer

charlene whitstock. top designer for chanel was among the guests. albert and his new bride toured the two-square mile country in a custom lexus. another pair of royals. prince william and wife, katherine, their tour of canada. they were greeted by a small group of protesters in montreal. they'll finish up their visit friday. still to come is a three-day stop-over in california. let's now talk about thaddeus -- >> rock 'n' roll guitarist? >> that's right, and a congressman. gop field officially grew by one. guitar-playing congressman who wants to be president. we'll tell you who he is.

savor this moment. >> this is the opposite of savor. >> that's true. we get to savor the taste of competition. last time i had a hot dog, i had a baby 12 hours later. i'm not kidding. they're all converging on coney island for the most prestigious event, nathan's hot dog eating contest. you may not know about the big business behind all of it and the expert marketing behind it. man versus tornado, rolling in this morning in an armored tank. we'll take you inside the vehicle in just half an hour. e , so i was really aggressive with my parents about joining facebook. my parents are up to 19 friends now? so sad. ♪ i have 687 friends. this is living. what!?

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washington, d.c. got the white house there. right now, mostly cloudy. 75 degrees. it will be thunderstorms and 92 later today. i have been there on the mall in washington july 4th and people are not deterred by the weather.

>> if your birthday falls on a holiday like this, sometimes people forget. now imagine if your dad is the president. it's something malia obama has had to deal with for a couple of years. it's her 13th birthday. fourth of july, that's a good weekend to have your birthday. >> nobody is ever going to be around. you can't have a party on your birthday. >> the whole country has a party on your birthday. >> that's true. >> happy birthday, malia. >> looking at it half full. michigan congressman thad m announces joining the race at a concert yesterday. >> texas governor rick perry could be the next presidential candidate. his aides are expected to lay out the results of their research as to how much support and financial back perry could get if he runs. still tentatively.

>> him and chris christie have been the two that everybody is talking about. chris christie is saying he's not running. >> right. the more we talk about it, the more people around them are trying to see if they could run. >> diverse economy, health care, lot of education. >> leaving the midwest, belt and southeast and going to texas. the white house has said on august 2nd, less than four weeks away, the government will run out of money to pay the nation's bills in full and on time. president clinton urged president obama to stand firm against republican opposition to increasing tax revenue. just in time for the busy holiday, the mninnesota zoo bac open. a judge ordered that they could

use other monies to keep running. it's been shut down since friday because democrats and republicans can't reach an agreement on a new budget. the minnesota shutout not affecting the zoo. >> that little monkey will get fed. ask the contestants in nathan's hot dog eating contest. you know what that's about, generally. there's a lot you don't know about going on behind the scenes. >> allan chernoff will take a look at the marketing. live in coney island. a tradition, no matter what. on summer weekends especially. hi, allan. >> reporter: good morning, christine. a lot of people wonder, how is it possible for man to consume so many hot dogs in only ten minutes? joey chestnut holds the world record of 68. we were talking about this a bit last hour. the secret is in the dunk. what you have to do is take that

dry bun, dunk it in water and then it goes right down. it's very simple. now, this may not be your idea of breakfast in the morning. you know what? for the sponsor here, nathan's famous, it is a miracle of marketing. you're watching all-american marketing magic. nathan's hot dog eating contest is a bonanza as eaters have expanded their gastric capabilities, nathan's has soared. >> one of the greatest marketing stunts ever put forth in the united states. >> reporter: it's a natural for nathan's, which first opened at the fun-filled amusement park 96 years ago. in the late 1970s, contest was just another coney island side show, thought up by pr stunt man

max rosie. max's protege and his brother have brought it no a phenomena, the mustard yellow championship belt, using espn to promote it. >> these dpies are athletes for sure. >> this year's stunt, building a new rivalry between u.s. and china, flying chinese to coney island. >> if they take the belt, they'll be eating our lunch, literally. >> reporter: the media eats it up. not just in coney island. shea's have competition across the country and spopsers for other eating events. chicken wings, oysters, hamburgers, all of what they

call major league eating. and what does a competitor eater eat after that? you better believe it. pepto bismol. lots of this stuff right here. wouldn't you know it, pepto, yes, is another sponsor to this event. >> tie it in to all the sponsorship. some people find this gross but you can't not watch. >> reporter: exactly. it's a fascination. the ratings on espn -- this is covered live on espn. the ratings are huge. the crowd will be enormous. already, people are set up, waiting to go. still four hours away, believe it or not. >> jamming up there on coney island. >> i've worked with or followed allan chernoff's work for many years. this is the first time i've seen you eat a wet hot dog bun on television. >> don't say allan chernoff

won't do what needs to be done to get the story. right, reynolds wolf, in the "weather center"? i'm horrified. how do we, as a species, evolve? 20 years from now, will we have a contestant who will unhinge his or her lower jaw? >> get a shovel. >> truckload at a time. it's a freak show, but a fun freak show. in terms of weather into the late afternoon, maybe strong thunderstorms in the upper midwest. portions of the southeast, maybe some of that sea breeze and thunderstorms that will pop up, just enough to give you a bit of a cool air, and cool you down. you'll need it. highs in the 90s in the southeast and desert southwest. it will be warmer. very quickly, what you can expect along the coast, water temperatures in the 80s. 91 in destin. florida, tamp wra and miami, highs in the 0s and 90s. savannah and hilton head, 80s and 90s. back to cape cod.

70s and 90s out there. water temperature is a little bit cooler into the 70s. should be a good time for you. parts of the desert southwest, the heat will be popping up to 96 degrees. very dry for you. 99 in el paso, 97 in houston. in chicago, about 82. a little bit to the northwest of chicago, madison, we had a great fireworks display last night. let's take a look at the video. we have it for you. spectacular thing to see. my goodness gracious. a lot of people will be able to have displays like this, it will be hard to top this view. i'll be quiet for a second. why don't you listen? how about them apples? beautiful stuff there. and we go from john and philip suza and apples and back to hot dogs. >> an impressive show. i like fireworks, but that one is pretty impressive. >> amazing times.

enjoy the fourth. >> have a great day. >> amazing end of an era in human history. nasa will launch its very last space shuttle this friday, space shuttle "atlantis," final flight for nasa shuttle program. the space agency says it has now new goals, including to touch an asteroid and to send humans to mars. watch the bottom of your screen. >> this it goes. >> there we go. don't miss the history-making liftoff. stay tuned for coverage july 8th. ali will be there. >> as we said, space shuttle "atlantaies" taking off for the -- >> there you go. there you go. >> -- very last time. love that. that's never going to grow old for me. >> that's good. don't let roller coasters take you for a ride. we'll show you the roller coaster that's claimed more cell phones than a manhattan taxi.

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24 minutes after the hour, minding your business this morning. the infamous hacker group anonymous, claiming to have hit apple now and stolen a small amount of passwords and user names. it didn't belong to the public or apple customers. so far, apple is not commenting on whether the information was stolen. dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all closed higher, boosted by easing concerns in greece. jobs report for june comes out this friday. people are adding more to

their retirement nest eggs. those savings rose to about $18 trillion last quarter, according to the investment company institute. that's up 10% from the same time last year and just below the record high back in 2007. the obama administration suggests now is the time to buy, if you're in the market for a new home. housing and urban development secretary shawn donovan tells our candy crowley that houses have hit rock bottom. nike signing michael vick in a new deal. he lost the sponsor after being convicted of dog fighting charges. raking in a new all-time record for this holiday weekend "transformers." taking luxury to the next level. tricked out with, get this a caviar tray. it's the first car with extras

made of porcelain. the price tag, a cool $2.4 million. claiming more cell phones than a manhattan taxi, the diamondback roller coaster in mason, ohio, is the biggest cell phone thief out there. it claimed more than $20,000 in broken phones in just its first year. amusement park staff even has a fish tank full of broken phones next to the line to remind people to secure all those articles before boarding the ride. up next, july 4th, with our troops in afghanistan. "american morning" back, right after this break. hey, the new guy is loaded with protein!

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just in to cnn this morning, venezuelan president hugo chavez is back after spending several weeks in cuba. he was in cuba undergoing cancer

treatments. >> several new pictures. we saw last week with fidel castro, these new ones. he is back in venezuela. there was a question about how long he can legally stay out of the country, which may have prompted his return. we don't know yet. the search resumes this morning after a tour boat sinks with americans on board. six people are still missing. there are reports that at least one person has died. the u.s. coast guard is sending a helicopter to help with the search once the sun is out. it should be about now. we're told the boat hit some rough weather and sank almost immediately. exxonmobil mopping up in montana after a burst pipeline spilled 1,000 barrels of oil into the yellowstone river. swift currents could help to break up the oil. they see no signs of harm to the

wildlife. the former international monetary fund chief was released on his own recognizance on friday after prosecutors say there were problem with his the accuser. calling on the party to give strauss-kahn a chance to compete in next year's election. live pictures right now in the casey anthony murder trial. jury deliberations are expected to begin today. the prosecution is claiming that she sacrificed her daughter's life for a life of freedom. you can see casey anthony behind her attorney as they get under way this morning in court in orlando. >> it's possible that the jury could get the case as early as today. our question today, do you think the prosecution has proved its case against casey anthony? jamie says on facebook, the prosecution came off as smug. the evidence did not go beyond

reasonable doubt. it was proven that cindy and george are liars so how can anyone think casey acted alone or isn't trying to cover up something for them. ? carolyn said if ms. anthony is convicted of this crime with the very minimal and circumstantial evidence that was presented in court then we need to seriously look at the process of our criminal justice system in this country. >> and mj says on our blog, i believe that the prosecution did not prove its case. however, i do believe that casey anthony was solely responsible for the death of her child. i also strongly believe that one or both of the parents are involved in the horrifying death of this beautiful child. my gut tells me that there's a tremendous amount of evidence that never reached trial. sharon says yes, the prosecution has proved its case. casey's statements alone were enough to prove the case. can i just say that people know all the names of the players. >> people have followed this closely. >> i haven't seen this much interest in a case since the

o.j. simpson trial in the '90s, but he was famous. there's so many differences. i'm not comparing the two trials. i'm just saying the public fascination of the trial, i haven't seen something like that. >> i agree. as we celebrate those who fought for our independence, we want to remember the troops who are fighting overseas right now. sergeant randy shorter. >> he has been promoted. part of the surge which arrived last august. one-year mission now nearly complete. jason is now live in the southeastern part of afghanistan with sergeant shorter and a few of of his comrades. jason? >> reporter: yeah. sergeant shorter, i don't know if you can see behind, but there's a poker game behind these two gentlemen right now. after all, it is a holiday and these guys do need some down

time. stand up there. wave. he is cleaning up in poker back there. last time i screwed up his name, mispronounced it. finally get some down time. how important is that for to you have that kind of down time, especially given how long you've been out here and everything you have to do? >> that's very important. it's one thing that keeps us going. even if it's an hour or a day, we'll have time to just relax and chill out. >> charon richardson, how about you? >> it's important that we get time to relax, have fun with each other. >> play a little poker. in this unit there are actually different factions. you have the pretty boys, self identified, versus the swaggers? >> swag team. >> the swag team, all right. explain for us, if you will, how does one become a pretty boy versus how one makes it on the swag team? >> okay. well, pretty boy is pretty self

splntory. you have to be pretty. >> reporter: okay. >> swag team, they don't have very many standards. >> reporter: is that true? >> negative. we have very high standards. for swag team, we're more about how we carry ourselves, how we -- how our personality is, not if we're pretty little girls. >> reporter: oh, i see. it's not all about looks. ali thinks it's all about looks. he was busting on me for wearing a t-shirt here. underneath all this, they're all wearing t-shirts. it's hot out here and they are all wearing t-shirts. i now have backup when i come home in case you want to keep up with the t-shirt thing. isn't that right? >> that's right. >> reporter: it's the fourth of july here. >> i was busting on you for apparently not being able to get your size of t shir. that's why you had to go for a smaller one. >> reporter: yeah. he says my t-shirt is too small, it's too tight. it's all about representing, you know what i'm saying? if you have it, you have to flaunt it, no matter where you are. >> and ali's three-piece suit, i

have to point out. >> just the way it goes. these guys understand. >> it's a good thing they can't hear you. i can hear you. they can't hear you. shoutouts to your family. i know they're home. >> say hi to my family. steve, lindsay, tyler, curtis, grace. my beautiful girlfriend, alexis. >> big family. >> i'll be home soon. love all you guys. thanks for the support. >> i just want to give a shout out to my wife, janelle, my four kids. love you and dadly will be home soon. >> they will be home soon. serious stuff to do before that happens. it's been an absolute honor of following them through the process of their life here in afghanistan, doing what they have to do. i think they represent thousands upon thousands of women who are here on a daily basis, fighting

the good fight and doing what they can. ali, christine? >> do us a favor and tell them thank you. just thank you. when you hear about charon with four kids at home, a wife. everyone is waiting for them to get home. >> we look forward to having them back. >> bye, jason. what makes america great? alexander pelosi, dashes across the nation in a 50-state road trip, looking for answers to that question. what makes america great? storm chasers. discovery channel storm chaser is rolling in to cnn. sean casey in a tank. >> look at that. >> i think they'll let us drive this thing. >> i think they'll let us on it, not drive it. >> only in clear weather. [ mom ] one of the challenges for kayla being gluten-free

is actually finding choices the whole family will love. five flavors of chex are gluten-free, including the honey nut flavor. and it's nice for me to be able to say "yes" to something that they want to eat. [ male announcer ] chex cereal. five flavors. gluten free.

little arrow aerosmith. i don't know what's going on with thunder.

there's thunder and lightning everywhere else and storms. i don't know if we have them coming to new york city. it is independence day. this is, you know, the patriotic day, one of several really big patriotic days of the year. a new documentary that airs tonight by alexander pelosi. >> he travels to all 50 states to ask our newest citizens why they love this country. >> my favorite thing about america is 911. you just dial the number and they come right away for their rescue. >> i like customer service. >> i love disney world. >> 911, customer service and disney world, very interesting. having traveled from overseas. >> very american things. >> you complain about customer service it's not bad here in america. you can watch the film here at 9:00 pm. alexandra pelosi joins us now. why did you do this? >> because my husband became a naturalized american citizen. he's from holland.

i went to his naturalization ceremony and met all these people who chose to become americans. from talking to them, i realized how much they appreciated this country in ways that people who were born here sometimes take for granted. that's what inspire immediate to go to all 50 states. >> i have to ask you this, alexandra. your observation that maybe people here take it for granted, don't you think that's the case in a lot of countries, especially wealthy countries? >> of course. people just forget. they're so used to it. like medicine. you can go to the score sto r and get medicine any time you want or you have pizza delivery or 911. all these little things that we forget that we just have to -- >> or can you trust your government. in some countries you can't even trust your own government. we take a census here in this country. we have to be very respectful of people who may have to fear the government they left. i have been to some naturalization ceremonies

before. if you don't cry watching a natural i naturalization ceremony -- >> then you have no heart. >> -- you have no idea what it's all about. it's such an emotional experience, in general. these are people who have chosen to become americans. many of us, it was just by accident of birth. >> right. and that's what's so inspirational. the new immigrants, they hold up the mirror and show us how we look as a country and we look pretty good. >> a lot of the debate today, when you say immigration, a lot of people will assume you're talking about illegal immigration or when you refer to immigrants a lot of people associate that with illegal immigration. you're focused solely on the people who got here legally and, in many cases, we want them to stay here. >> absolutely. they go through the process and wait in line and bring a lot to

this country. they make jobs, too. i met a lot of phds, people in the tech industry, doctor, lawyer, all these wonderful country contributions that they make in this country that they came here legally and went through the process legally and we forget about the people when we talk about immigrants, we have to remember that immigrants do bring good things to this country. >> people are either saying you need to fix this immigration system, it's not fair. or they're saying we're too hard on illegal immigrants. everything that su you see among mainstream americans you see among the illegal immigrants as well. what are we offering immigrants when they come here? do the people that you talk to across the country, do they sort of believe that or for them do they think things are going well

in america? >> actually, what i found is that everybody who came here and chose to become americans really felt like the american dream was still alive and well. even though, no matter how bad it gets in this country, it's still a heck of a lot better than most other places on earth. >> thank you so much, alexandra pelosi. it's called "citizen u.s.a.: a 50 state report." up next, storm chaser sean casey who spent a dozen of years catching sid wrer for an imax film. we'll take a tour.

the skies are kind of hazy over atlanta for the time being. few clouds in the area. in the afternoon, we expect things to warm up in a big way, into the 90s. miami, orlando, afternoon thunderstorms are a possibility. atlanta, d.c. metros.

even nashville, memphis. afternoon thunderstorms may keep you grounded for a bit. san francisco, the issue may be fog. delays in spots like the southeast mainly due to sea breeze and thunderstorms. thunderstorms popping up across the area of the dakotas and portions of, say, minnesota. take a look at this video from this skateboarder across the pond in france. this is just ridiculous. french roller skater, sacred heart monument. taking the title for the world's longest long jump on a skateboard. this guy beat the record by 16 feet. just saying. what else might be insane is the heat you're dealing with in the southwest. mix of sun dms shine and clouds in san francisco. palms, you might get some rainfall in the stert. and in parts of the midwest, plenty of sunshine and mix of sun and clouds for parts of the northeast. if you're heading out to the

coast, gulf coast, highs in the 90s. tampa, chance of rain in the afternoon. same deal with miami beach. work your way to the eastern seaboard, more of the same. virginia beach, atlantic city, and cape cod. 79 degrees in cape cod with a 20% chance of storms in the afternoon. chance of rain is minimal in places like dallas. 101 the expected high. 89 for minneapolis. 99 in denver and salt lake city, 94. 73 in san francisco. 75 in seattle. 80 to 90-degree heat. 90 in miami. washington, d.c., nation's capital, about 92. 84 in boston. and in new york, 88 degrees can be expected. 88 again in new york, you'll find the rest of our show for "american morning" coming right up here on cnn. tion

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i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming. that's why we bought a subaru.

we talked to you guys a lot about tornadoes. we covered it. we talk about these weird breed of people. >> storm chasers. >> he's a normal guy. his truck is not normal. >> sean casey. >> good morning to you guys. >> what is this thing? >> it's called the tiv. it's designed for one purpose, to take the imax camera into the eye of a tornado. >> it started as a pickup truck? >> one time diesel pickup truck, dodge 3500. we tore everything off of it and

added about 8,000 pounds of armor. these panels are actually up. >> still looks weird. >> all these panels were upment we get in front of the tornado, lower the vehicle. these flaps go down to the ground. we don't want those winds to get underneath, creating lift. we have those spikes, if we're on dirt, we can use anchored and put them into the ground. >> how powerful of a tornado can you get basically in, in this thing? >> it usually depends on what we've had for breakfast but around 200 miles per hour if the tornado isn't lofting. >> it has nothing it can pick up? >> right. >> the wind can't get under this? >> uh-huh. >> this has worked for you several times? >> so far, yes. we're both still alive. >> can you lift it? >> marcus shall pull it up. >> it's all automatic. >> wow!

>> this can operate as a regular vehicle? >> yeah. >> how do you think this through? you hang around areas where tornadoes happen? what do you hear that gets you to go somewhere? >> the day before you know what state you want to be the next day. then that morning you're looking at weather models and seeing what part of that state you kind of want to stake out, so if the storm does form in that area, it has the best chance to spur or produce a tornado. >> you have an imax film in that tourette. >> i fell in love with severe weather in 1999. >> i fell in love with severe weather. >> it's always a love story. >> you're a weird bunch. >> what is it, like climbing a mountain? what is it about severe weather that's so sexy and exciting? please tell us. >> when the skies just become alive with energy and then you have these supercell storm that is could drop a tornado like that building right there, right there in front of you, it's such

a -- >> the power, the awesomeness? >> like something you would find on a different planet. >> tell us about the movie. >> an imax film that took eight years to do. we wanted to get the best footage possible. this tape was built -- tripod that takes the imax camera into the heart of the tornado. it took a while to get that shot. if you are doing an imax film on tornadoes you want -- >> it has to be big? >> he has a smaller camera in the front and i have the imax camera in the back, in the tourette. >> any close calls? >> oh, dear, every year. >> reporter: every year? >> every year you get that feeling on the back of your neck that you've done something -- >> why didn't i become an accountant? >> exactly. >> computer modeling, software and all this meteorological stuff that can tell you swhal where it's going to be. how many times have you taken it

all over the country? and it is dirty. >> i wasn't lying. >> no, you weren't. >> from texas to oorn colorado to tennessee. >> what kind of gas mileage? >> ten mooin miles to the gallon. we have a range of about 850 miles. >> you put the sides down and you're ready to go? >> we try to get the nose into the strongest winds. that's tricky. >> they are so tricky. they can take a turn. >> we always seem to take side winds whenever we plant. >> you're still in danger of anything falling on you. >> debris, houses. >> what does it look like inside a tornado? >> it's really windy. >> well, i know. is it dark, is it black? is it different, every one? >> every tornado is different. it depends on what time of the day it is, what that tornado is picking up. has is gone over dry ground and picked up black dirt? they can be black or white. >> can you get a life insurance

policy? does somebody write an insurance policy for guys like you? >> how do you guys know each other? >> good friends for about 18 years. >> do you ever reconsider your friendship? >> oh, yeah. >> you get four guys in this vehicle for eight months straight. there's no a.c. it's loud. it's awful in there. in two weeks, we're eyeing each other's necks, right? >> yeah, yeah. >> you don't hear that very much. nice to meet you, sean casey. the tiv, tornado interceptive vehicle. >> two. >> storm chasers, we like to see that. happy fourth of july, everybody. kyra, happy fourth of july to you, my dear. >> happy fourth of july. that's right. we're all feeling the patriotism today. have a great day, guys. 9:00 am on the east coast. 6:00 am out west. i'm kyra phillips. stories that have us talking. a